INDONESIAN LANGUAGE AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH IN THE FUTURE

Rossa M. Silitonga
English Literature
Faculty Of Language and Art
State University of Medan
rosamawars@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Language is a means of communication between community members in the form of sound symbols
produced by human speech tools. The development of technology which is increasingly developing
affects the development of language, because basically the development of language always follows the
direction of technological developments. Language is a medium for conveying information and
knowledge which has an important position in its development. Technological developments have an
impact on language development. The era of globalization removes time and space constraints that
affect the use of language. This research is motivated by conditions in the era of globalization which
have led to changes in the language behavior of Indonesian society. This research is a qualitative
descriptive study based on data from observations in the field. The result of this research is a form of the
writer's explanation of the language situation of the community in the use of Indonesian and Australian
English in the future.

Keyword: language, science, globalization era.

INTRODUCTION

Language is a tool used by humans to convey information, and ideas. Language is a product of human
culture whose life is always dynamic, creative, and tends not to be static (Helmanita: 2013).
Technological and cultural developments in modern times affect the shift in values associated with a
nation. One of them is the language, or more precisely in this case Indonesian. With the development of
technology, it is undeniable that young people today do not understand the proper and correct use of
Indonesian. Many of them have been influenced by foreign cultures and more modern use of foreign
languages. So that by itself the Indonesian language was slowly eliminated. Indirectly, globalization has
influenced the situation and development of the Indonesian language. Both from positive and negative
influences.

The era of globalization will touch all aspects of life, including language. The language that is increasingly
being used by all nations in the world is English, which has more than one billion speaker. However, only
with other areas of life, as stated by Naisbitt (1991) in his book Global Paradox, there will be paradoxes
in various components of life, including language. Australian English, for example, even though the
speakers are growing as a second language, the people of a country will be stronger and also maintain
their mother tongue. In Iceland, a small European country with a population of about 250,000, even
though they speak English as a second language, this country still retains the purity of its first language
from the influence of English.

Considering that there is such a high level of interest in education in the Indonesian language field,
which initially only has a quota of one class, then it will continue to develop into a study program that
has many enthusiasts. Countries that have opened educational programs in the Indonesian language
include Australia, Japan, England, China and South Korea. The opposite is also true of English, which is
indeed a world language. Indirectly, English is a mandatory language for all nations, including the
Indonesian nation. English is also a compulsory subject for students, and a compulsory subject for
students.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Before Chomsky was known, most people believed in the findings of language learning theory that
Brown's so-called "storehouse" children imitated other people and got a large number of sentences that
they stored in their heads. Then they reach the right sentence formation when certain events occur
(Brown and Herrnstein, 1975: 444). Chomsky, on the other hand, proved this view to be incorrect.
Humans don't just learn a number of sentences, because humans routinely create new sentences.
Humans interact with other people, allowing them to learn and create new words which then become
the language used in everyday life.

The learning process is expected to bring changes (in the sense of behavioral changes, actual or
potential), to produce new skills, to achieve better results (intentionally) based on Piaget's opinion in
Mansoer Pateda (1990: 67). In research conducted by Ariningsih, Sumarwati and Kundharu Saddhono
(2012) it was concluded that there are still many students who do not have writing skills in accordance
with applicable linguistic principles. According to Suryabrata in Sumardi (1998: 232) states that one of
the figures of this group said that the complex structure of language is not something that is given by
nature and is not something that must be learned through the environment. It will continue to develop
because of intense communication with fellow humans. This structure occurs naturally, without any
intention.

The development of language in psycholinguistics is defined as a process of acquiring language,

compiling grammar from utterances, selecting the most appropriate and simplest grammatical
assessment measure of the language (Tarigan, 1986: 243). The development of this language will
develop rapidly along with the times in this era of globalization. Languages will continue to evolve,
whether accepting new languages or mixing new languages. It is the strongest language that will grow
and be widely used. This can be seen from the existence of the language. Conversely, languages that
have a less existence will tend to be ignored and lose in the competition for languages in the global era.
According to Andyani, Saddhono, and Mujiyanto (20160) Indonesian in the learning process is one of the
compulsory subjects taught at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
The diversity of descriptions of language should be treated as a dynamic development of science, not as
a good or bad choice.

DISCUSSION

Indonesian Language in the Global Era

The era of globalization will touch all aspects of life, including language. The language spoken
increasingly globally by all nations of the world is English, which speaks more than one billion people.
The choice of language according to Saddhono (2006: 3) is carried out by multilingual communities due
to various factors and has a social or true-to-wrong meaning. New findings in the study of linguistics
need not be interpreted that previous findings are bad or wrong, but should be interpreted as
developments in refining descriptions to answer the true nature of language (Suyitno, 2006).

Language function is the most complex function among all development phases. Indicators of language
development include receptive functions, namely the child's ability to recognize and react to someone,
to events in the surrounding environment, to understand the meaning of mimics and sounds and finally
to words and expressive functions, namely the ability of children to express their desires and thoughts
(in Nur Indah, 2016).

This social meaning can also occur in the field of education. However, just as in other areas of life, as
stated by Naisbitt (1991) in his book Global Paradox, there will be paradoxes in various components of
life, including language. English, for example, even though the speakers are growing as a second
language, the people of a country will be stronger and also maintain their mother tongue. In Iceland, a
small European country with a population of about 250,000, even though they speak English as a second
language, this country still retains the purity of its first language from the influence of English.

Language is a means of communication between community members in the form of sound symbols
produced by human speech tools (Gorys Keraf, 1997: 1). Some may object to saying that language is not
the only means of communication. They show that two people or parties who communicate using
certain ways that have been mutually agreed upon. Paintings, fire smoke, the sound of drums or barrels
and so on. But they must admit that when compared to language, all these means of communication
contain many weak aspects.

The Indonesian language has a very important position, as stated in the third pledge of the Youth Pledge
which reads We, the Sons and Daughters of Indonesia, uphold the language of unity, the Indonesian
language. This means that Indonesian is the national language, its position is above regional languages.
In addition, the 1945 constitution contains a special article (CHAPTER XV article 36) regarding the
position of the Indonesian language which states that the State language is Indonesian. Indonesian is the
national language in accordance with the 1928 youth oath; second, Indonesian is the national language
in accordance with the 1945 constitution. In its position as the national language, the Indonesian
language functions as: (1) a symbol of national pride; (2) national identity symbol; (3) means of
communication between citizens, between regions and between cultures; and (4) tools that enable the
integration of various ethnic groups with their respective socio-cultural backgrounds and languages into
the unity of the Indonesian nationality.

As a symbol of national identity, we respect the Indonesian language besides the flag and emblem of our
country. In carrying out this function, the Indonesian language must also have its own identity so that it
is in harmony with our national symbol. Indonesian can have an identity only if the community who uses
it builds and develops it in such a way that it is free from elements of other languages.

The third function of the Indonesian language, namely Indonesian as the national language, is a means
of communication between citizens, between regions and between ethnic groups. The existence of a
national language between communities can relate to one another. So that it does not cause
misunderstanding as a result of differences in socio-cultural background and language.

The fourth function of Indonesian, in its position as the national language, is a tool that allows the
integration of various ethnic groups with different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds into one
unified national unity. In this connection, the Indonesian language is a tool that enables the integration
of various ethnic groups with different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds into one unified national
unity. More than that, with the national language, we can place national interests far above regional or
group interests.

The development of technology which is increasingly developing affects the development of language,
because basically the development of language always follows the direction of technological
developments. Indonesian does not close itself to not following the flow of globalization. This is
evidenced by the large number of words added to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI). Not only by
creating new vocabulary, the addition of vocabulary in KBBI is also influenced by the absorption of
foreign languages. It is undeniable that the development of Indonesian is also influenced by the
presence of foreign languages. However, even though there is a vocabulary that is the result of the
absorption of foreign Indonesian, it still maintains Indonesian as the main language used in the process
of daily communication.

English In Global Era

It is acknowledged that Indonesian people's English proficiency is still very low. World Bank data show
that the largest gap in the local workforce is 44% use of English. The English Proiciency Index (EPI)
released by Education First (EF) provides data that the results of a study of 70 countries, the English
proficiency level of adults in Indonesia is in 32nd position, behind Singapore and Malaysia which have a
high level of proficiency (advanced) . This shows that the Indonesian state is still far behind its
neighboring countries. There are many reasons that Indonesians complain about in learning English,
such as being difficult to learn or too complicated, feeling English is not too important, or for older
people it is too late to learn English.

Many companies or government agencies require someone to be proficient in English. Many job
application advertisements include applicants who speak English. English must be mastered because it is
an international language. This language is used to communicate and interact in the exchange of science
and technology and cooperation in the business world with entrepreneurs from other countries.
Someone who has good English skills is more taken into account in the world of work, because currently
Indonesia is starting to enter the global market which of course requires a lot of workers who can speak
English well.

Apart from the Indonesian people who are still low in mastery of the English language, in fact now
English has succeeded in entering and being accepted by the Indonesian people, especially the
millennial generation. Many found in social media the use of English is more prominent when compared
to the use of Indonesian itself. Some think that the more English vocabulary is used the cooler it looks.
This proves that the millennial generation has an interest in foreign languages, which in this case is
English. Not only are they found on social media, many people also like western songs whose lyrics are
in English.

Awareness of the impact of English in this global era is also shown by the number of international
standard schools in Indonesia. The school is divided into various levels ranging from Early Childhood
Education (PAUD), Elementary School (SD), Junior High School (SMP), Senior High School (SMA), and
Higher Education. With this, of course it can be used as a capital for the development of English in
Indonesia.